Absence of monitoring the pressing and caulking parameters in assembling tips for flexible hoses fitted in a hydraulic system of transportation facilities makes it difficult to guarantee the mechanical strength of fastening an insert in a tip body and a tight contact of the insert surfaces with the tip body. Absence of mechanical strength and tight connection between the insert and the tip body in a hydraulic system of transportation facilities results in emergency situations.
Known in the art is an apparatus for pressing a thin-walled part into a base part, essentially an insert into the body of a tip in a hydraulic hose (cf., SU, A, 1,136,925), comprising a base-mounted multiposition revolving table with peripherally disposed mandrels for parts being assembled, a mechanism to feed base parts to the assembly zone, made in the form of a hopper, a mechanism to feed thin-walled metal parts, a mechanism for centering and installing a thin-walled part on the table mandrel, a mechanism for fitting a base part on the table mandrel, a unit for calibration of a thin-walled part, and also a pressing and caulking mechanism.
The mechanism for centering and installing a thin-walled part on the table mandrel is made in the form of a lever with one end thereof hingedly fitted on a base and the other end spring-loaded relative to the latter, a support for a thin-walled part, hingedly mounted on the lever spring-loaded end with a possibility to rotate around its axis in a plane perpendicular to the mandrel longitudinal axis, and also a pusher assoociated through the lever with a power cylinder and provided with a former. The pusher rests on the base and is free to interact with the former and a lever-mounted roller.
The mechanism for fitting a base part on the table mandrel is made in the form of a power cylinder, whose rod mounts a knife edge to receive the base part.
The pressing and caulking mechanism is made as a power cylinder with a hollow rod, and the unit for calibration of a thin-walled part represents a calibration rod driven by the power cylinder. The calibration rod is accommodated in the power cylinder rod.
The multiposition revolving table is provided with a relevant slewing and locking mechanism in the form of a drive motor with an engagement coupling and a locking rod, interconnected by a synchronizing shaft with a rotation drive thereof and levers fixed on its ends.
The thin-walled metal part in said prior art apparatus is fed in an oriented position from a feeding mechanism to the support of the mechanism for centering and installing a thin-walled part. During the forward stroke of the centering mechanism pusher, the spring acts upon the support and presses it to the mandrel, encloses it and is thus centered relative to the latter. Then the pusher moves the thin-walled part relative to the support and fixes it in the hole of the table mandrel.
When the pusher has assumed the initial position, the table makes a revolution.
From the hopper, the base comes to the knife edge of the mechanism for fitting the base part on the table mandrel and, as the power cylinder rod moves on, is accommodated on the mandrel, whose hole has already received the thin-walled part. Then the table revolves, and the mandrel with the parts being assembled approaches the pressing and caulking mechanism. When the table comes to a standstill, the power cylinder operates, as a result of this the calibration rod passes through the hole in the thin-walled metal part, whereupon the pressing and caulking mechanism power cylinder is actuated, and its hollow rod presses and caulks the thin-walled part into the base part. The pressing and caulking over, the calibration rod leaves the holes of parts, and the hollow rod returns to the initial position.
However, the foregoing prior art apparatus fails to assure an adequate quality of the flexible hose tip assembly, for the pressing and caulking are done by one mechanism and, as the caulking effort is greater than the pressing effort shifting and misalignment of the insert in the tip body are not improbable. In this apparatus, the assembly is performed by units which could well monitor the pressing and caulking efforts. Moreover, absence of monitoring cannot guarantee an adequate mechanical strength and tightness of the connection.
Also known is an automatic facility for assembly of tips for flexible hoses (cf., SU, A, 1,186,454), containing a base mounting an automatic rotary means for feeding the line with tip bodies and an automatic rotary means for feeding the same with inserts, each provided with a pre-hopper for collecting and feeding the parts to said automatic means, a pressing rotor with arrangements for monitoring the minimum and maximum pressing efforts, a caulking rotor, and transportation rotors. The facility for assembly of tips for flexible hoses also includes a control system with a memory.
The automatic rotary means for feeding the line with parts of a tip body type comprises a shaft rotatable mounted on a base. The shaft carries a hopper with gripping members made in the form of revolving funnels equally spaced about its periphery. Rigidly attached to the hopper bottom is a taper disk with the pre-hopper mounted thereunder with a clearance. The automatic rotary means also contains collectors with piece-wise feed mechanism and a feed cutoff mechanism.
The pre-hopper is made in the form of an annular shell with a conical bottom coupled with the shell by connectors. The annular shell is linked with the base of the automatic rotary means by a flexible coupling, e.g. by a spring and a vibrator. Attached to the pre-hopper conical bottom on the shell inner surface is a sectionalized tray forming collecting containers with windows on the bottom of the setionalized tray to release batches of tip bodies. The annular shell end surface fits the conical bottom to form with the latter an additional annular container. The annular shell has windows for the parts to pass from the additional annular container to the hopper of the automatic rotary feeding means.
Each piece-wise feed mechanism is made in the form of shutoff devices actuated by formers. One of formers represents a double-arm lever. The feed cutoff mechanism comprises an electromagnet coupled by the memory with the line control system. The collectors are fitted under each gripping member. Mechanisms for secondary orientation of the tip body are installed under the collectors. Each mechanism for secondary orientation is actually a revolving drum with a through channel and clamping jaws. Arranged above each hole is a mechanism for identification of the tip body made in the form of a rod interacting with a stationary former. The jaws form a radial window for the parts to pass to the through hole of the revolving drum. Each orrientation mechanism contains a lock to restrict radial displacement of the drum and a gear interacting with a toothed rack made to reciprocate by the stationary annular former.
The automatic rotary means for feeding the line with parts of an insert type includes a mechanism for imparting reciprocal motion to sector grips. Each sector grip is hingedly associated with an intermediate shaft accommodated in sliding bearings inside a hollow support column. A drum with the rotary means rotation drive is fixed on the outside of the column with the aid of rolling bearings. The drum is connected to a hopper with radial slots in the bottom. A second drum is freely fitted on a central bushing rigidly mounted on a central shaft connected with the intermediate shaft. Feeder bodies are radially attached on the second drum. The periphery of the upper end of each feeder body has a hinge to connect the bodies with the sector grips. Each sector grip is associated with the feeder body by a spring and has a roller entering a cylindrical groove in the bushing. The hopper bottom has a radially disposed projections to help the insert type to sink into the sector grips. A collector tube is mounted on the hopper opposite to each sector grip.
Rigidly coupled to the hopper of the automatic rotary means for feeding the line with inserts is a taper disk, clearance-fitted over which is a pre-hopper in the form of an annular shell with a conical bottom coupled to it through connectors. The annular shell is associated with the base of the automatic rotary means through a flexible coupling, e.g. by a spring and a vibrator. Attached to the pre-hopper conical bottom on the inner surface of the shell is a sectionalized tray, forming collecting containers, with windows provided on the bottom of the sectionalized tray to release batches of insert type parts. The pre-hopper conical bottom is fitted on an axle eccentrically with the pre-hopper conical bottom. The end surface of the annular shell is free to contact the taper disk to form with the latter and the pre-hopper conical bottom an addtional annular container. The annular shell has windows for the parts to pass from the additional annular container to the hopper of the automatic rotary means.
The pressing rotor comprises drive shaft-mounted drum with equidistant peripherally arranged working heads with upper and lower sliders, which are free to reciprocate and are provided with a support tool and a punch, a catcher with a spring being installed inside the tool coaxially therewith. The slider encloses a calibrated spring resting on the support guided by the blushing, and the end surface carries a centering catcher groove for the tip.
The sliders are associated with former-actuated rods installed in the drums fixed on a drive shaft. The latter is mounted on bearings fitted on the base of the automatic rotary means and is connected with the drive shaft with the aid of a gear. The base mounts a contactless limit switch.
The ends of the rod carries a roller resting on the former hingedly mounted on the base through a support and an axle and resting on the lever associated with the rod with a calibrated bank of springs resting on a collar thereof. A contactless transducer is installed close to the lever.
The caulking rotor contains a drive shaft-mounted drum with equidistant peripherally arranged working heads with sliders, which are free to reciprocate and are provided with a support tool and a punch enclosing a calibration needle.
One slider is coupled with a hydraulic cylinder rod and the other with a rod enclosed in a drum fixed on a drive shaft. The latter is supported in bearings on the base and connected with the drive of the automatic rotary means by a gear.
The rotary automatic means for feeding the line with tip bodies and inserts, and the pressing and caulking rotors are interconnected by transportation rotors intended for transferring the parts from rotor to rotor and made in the form of base-mounted driven shafts with rigidly connected disks. The latter are provided with radially disposed holes accommodating spring-loaded sliders carrying grips in the form of tongs.
The control system is essentially a controller and peripheral monitoring and actuating devices, e.g. transducers to monitor the presence of parts, photosensor, electromagnets and electric motors.
In said prior art apparatus, the parts being assembled--the tip body and the insert--come to the loading area of each part from the automatic rotary means.
The transportation rotor transfers inserts piecewise to a tool block of the caulking rotor, wherein they are arranged coaxially with the catcher and the puch hole and pushed into the latter by the catcher. Thus the insert finds itself in the working head which, moving jointly with the drum, subsequently comes to the tip body loading zone, the tip also installed coaxilly with the caulking rotor catcher groove and put on the punch in which the insert has been accommodated. Both parts being assembled--the tip body and the insert--are thus loaded into the working head of the pressing rotor and accommodated coaxially with each other.
Specifications for the assembly of said parts restrict the minimum and maximum pressing efforts, i.e. the pressing effort must not go beyond the limits of the prescribed pressure interval. Accordingly, the pressing rotor has two pressing zones--a minimum effort monitoring zone and a maximum effort monitoring zone.
The minimum pressing effort is monitored as follows. The former lifts the rod, and the latter shifts the slider with the punch which encloses the parts being assembled till they thrust against the support. The latter is loaded by a spring calibrated for the present minimum pressing effort. If pressing the insert into the tip boody takes an effort smaller than that built up by the spring, the insert will be pressed into the tip body and the clearance between the support collar and the collar of the guide bushing will remain. The lever sill enter the clearance and will not turn about its exis or close the contactless limit switch. Such a part will be subsequently rejected.
If pressing the insert into the tip body requires an effort greater than that of the calibrated spring, the support, as the slider with the punch and parts being assembled go up to till pressed to it, will likewise go up and compress the spring, as a result of which the clearance between the support and bushing collars will disappear. The lever will not enter the clearance; it will turn about its axis and close the contactless limit switch. Such a part is taken to have passed the test for the minimum pressing effort.
The working head with this part moves to the maximum pressing effort monitoring zone. The rod with the roller running on the end former lifts the slider with the punch till it thrusts against the support. If the pressing effort exceeds the maximum permissible value to which the bank of disk springs has been adjusted, the former will go down after turning about its axis and press the lever which will shift the rod and compress the bank of disk springs. While turning, the lever will close the contactless limit switch. Such a part will be subsequently rejected, as the pressing effort was in excess of the maximum permissible value.
If the pressing effort is weaker than the one to which the bank of disk springs has been adjusted and greater than the minimum permissible, the lever will not turn to cut off the transducer; such a part is regarded as fit for use.
The transportation rotor extracts the serviceable parts from the working heads of the pressing rotor and transfers them to the working heads of the caulking rotor, wherein they are placed on the punch coaxially with the support. The hydraulic cylinder rod acts upon the slider to impart the caulking effort to the tip, which receives the punch annular collar to caulk the insert into the tip body. The calibration needle guaranntees that the inner hole in the insert after caulking will not diminish. The transportation rotor takes the part out of the working head and transfers it to a container for finished parts.
However, the foregoing prior art automatic rotary facility for assembly of tips for flexible hoses has the following shortcomings; it contains no means to monitor the depth of the caulking trial, i.e. the tightness of the joint between the insert and the tip body is not monitored, the mechanism for secondary orientation of the rotary automatic means for feeding the line with tip bodies being made in the form of rotary tong-like grip with a through hole and clamping jaws does not assure reliable orientation of insert type parts with holes on both sides and a connector offset relative to the middle located therebetween; jamming of parts is probable in the automatic rotary means for feeding insert type parts when the latter are transferred from the slot of the inclined sector grip to the vertical collector; the surface of the pre-hopper taper shall being made solid does not provide free access to the parts being collected for the gripping members, as a result of which the parts may accumulate at the slot through which they pass from the pre-hopper to the hopper.